Business Excellence Awards
Twice was nice for the City of Pickering’s Eco-Tec Inc., recipient of 2 prestigious honours at the Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade’s 17th Annual Business Excellence and Business Person of the Year Awards gala.
Eco-Tec received the Global Business Excellence Award as well as the Business Excellence Award in the 50+ Employees category. Eco-Tec (www.eco-tec.com) manufactures water purification and chemical recovery systems for industrial operations. Its integrated technologies offer significant cost reduction and superior process efficiency, and its products have been installed in more than 1,500 systems worldwide.
(Above) Dr. Philip (Rocky) Simmons accepts 2011 Business Excellence Award for 50+ Category for Eco-Tec Inc.
Eco-Tec’s Amine Purification System (AmiPur™) was recently selected by Russian production and investment company, TAIF NK, to reduce contaminants at its refinery in the republic of Tatarstan. The new system marks another Eco-Tec project in Russia, and is now among more than 50 AmiPur integrations in 18 countries worldwide. Since 2000, Eco-Tec has become a global leader in amine purification technology and continues to educate the industry on the harmful effects of contamination and the benefits of continuous removal.
(Above) Dr. Philip (Rocky) Simmons accepts 2011 Global Excellence Award for Eco-Tec Inc.
For the first time, the Board of Trade presented an Emerging Entrepreneur Award to salute business people who have used their experience and expertise to drive their own economic destinies. Entrepreneurs are distinguished by a host of characteristics, including the ability to take risk, innovation, inquisitiveness, passion for learning and vision.
Each community selected an award recipient. Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan was proud to present the inaugural award to Thane Fitzgerald of Bykart Software Ltd. After attending George Brown College in the late 1970s, Mr. Fitzgerald developed hardware, device drivers and interfaces used by banks, the military and the industries across North America. Mr. Fitzgerald later developed software for some of Canada's largest corporations, such as Bell Canada, and technology pioneers like Alias Wavefront.
(Above) Thane Fitzgerald of Bykart Software Ltd. Accepts 2011 Emerging Entrepreneur Award.
Drawn by Pickering’s reputation for high education standards, Mr. Fitzgerald and his family moved here 15 years ago. He began pursuing his entrepreneurial spirit and developed an application called CHARM (Chemotherapy Appointment Reservation Manager). He founded Bykart Software to commercialize the product, which has helped cancer clinics save millions of dollars, reduce wait times for cancer patients and increase patient safety.
Bykart Software is now working with the Durham College Office of Research Services and Innovation to further explore the opportunities for cross application of the software in other medical treatment settings.
The Business Excellence Awards were presented on October 13 at Deer Creek Golf Clubs in Ajax. Congratulations to Eco-Tec President Dr. Philip (Rocky) Simmons and the Eco-Tec team, Mr. Fitzgerald and all award recipients for these very notable achievements!
*Photo credit for all three images: Dave Johnson, Northstar Communications*
